Fraction Forest
by MewMewExorcist
Summary: Random math project I turned into a fanfic. So yeah, learn your fractions here! Yeah, if you do decide to read this, at the end, give me a grade, eh?


**Hello! Hem, yes, this is a long story. I didn't want to break it into seperate chapters, as this was originally a math project I had to do. So...all the chapters are all one long story. And I had to go through the trouble of editing it all to make sure Leo was a boy...the story originally had two girls in it. Yeah. Anyway, R&R and I hope you enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's! **

**Fraction Forest**

**Chapter 1 – Prologue and Addition **

It was October 31, the night to gather candy for the following year. But this night wasn't your usual happy, moonlit Halloween. Instead, the midnight black sky was overcast with thick gray clouds. The pitch blackness was eerie, punctured now and then with the occasional flickering streetlamp. Two young kids, twins by the looks of it, wandered the streets long after everyone had gone home. They wandered the deserted lane aimlessly. The fact that their meandering was taking them closer to what the neighbors had dubbed 'Fraction Forest' was unknown to them. Each step they took brought closer to the woods that whispered softly in the breeze.

Now, these twins were identical brother and sister around the age of ten. Green hair and sparkling golden eyes were revealed as they strode under a streetlight. The male wore an unzipped white shortsleeve jacket, blue t-shirt with yellow stripes, white shorts, white sneakers, and wristlets. The female had on an unzipped pale pink short sleeve jacket, a dark pink long sleeve with yellow markings, light pink shorts, and pink sneakers. The boy had his hair in a single ponytail while the girl had her's in pigtails. As they walked on, whispering quietly to each other, a stray fall decoration swept into their path; a cream sheet with a werewolf mask attached to it. It swished across their faces, and when they got a good glimpse of it, the kids screamed and blundered headlong, uncaring of where they went. Neither twin noticed the sign at the beginning of the forest path. Big bold red letters clearly showed the words 'DANGER! DO NOT ENTER!'

When their fleeing feet slowed, the twins turned around in a full 360 degrees, hoping to get a hold on where they were. Unfortunately for them, they were completely lost. Praying that they would stumble across something – or someone – familiar, they continued on; a pair of lost and frightened children.

Not soon after, a rustling sound filled the air. Scared to the bottom of their wits, the twins hugged each other for comfort. As the rustling stopped abruptly, bushes parted to reveal a boy around the age of sixteen emerge onto the path. His appearance was so startling that the brother and sister shrieked reflexively. The boy himself wore a tight grey long sleeve, a light black hoodie, black jeans and brown boots. A one strap backpack hung on his right shoulder and wound across his chest and under his left arm. His right hand clutched a wrinkled piece of paper and a stub pencil while the left was pressed against his ear.

The twins released each other from a death hug, staring at the stranger with wide eyes. A breeze blew leaves around their feet as the threesome gazed at each other with distrusting eyes. The teenage boy was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

"So, what are you kids doing out here?" he questioned.

The double-digits glanced at each other, as if for comfort. The glance seemed to convey a silent message of agreement. Summoning up her courage, the female with the pink shirt spoke up, her voice high and shaky.

"We-we could ask you the same thing. What is your name? Where are we?" she asked, firing the questions at the poor boy rapidly.

The teenager held up his hands as if surrendering. "One at a time!" he protested. "For your first question, I ignored the danger sign and came into Fraction Forest to map the place. For your information, I am sincerely regretting my decision currently. Consider your second question answered. My name is Yusei. I've already answered your third question, had you been listening to what I said earlier." He crossed his arms in defiance. "I've answered your question; now answer mine. I'll repeat them for you, just in case you forgot. My original question was what you were doing out here. My other question is what your names are. An ending question for you is why you're here."

Another glance from the twins and the male stepped forward. When he spoke, his voice was steadier than his twin, but tinged with fear.

"Well, you see, we're lost...if that wasn't clear enough before. Um, your second question was our names, right? I really shouldn't tell you, but I guess it's okay in this situation we're in. My name is Leo. Uh, my sister's name is Luna. Your last question I can't really answer. We got scared and ran." His speech was laced with hesitations. "Oh, and, how can we find the way out? We ran in pretty far..."

Yusei blushed and looked away at his last question. "Well...you see, I was hoping you could show me the way out." His expression was apologetic. "But I did figure out something. Come this way, and I'll show you." He turned without another word and set off at a brisk pace down the winding dirt path. Leo and Luna had no choice but to trust and follow him.

Soon, the dirt path came to a fork in the road. At the head of that fork was a wooden board with a mathematical equation etched into it. Luna leaned in for a better look. 8/12 + 2/6 + 2/3 =

Leo cocked his head questioningly. "What? Math at a time like this?"

Yusei walked up to him. "Meh, fractions are easy. The answer is 1 2/3 in a mixed fraction, 20/12 in an improper fraction."

Luna looked amazed. "How'd you know that?" she asked. As an afterthought, she added, "How do you solve fractions?"

Yusei scratched his head. "Do they not teach this in, what, fourth grade anymore?" Luna shook her head, gold eyes gazing at him trustingly.

"My brother and I are in third. We were born in December."

"Explains a lot." Muttered Yusei. "Well, get your bro over here, and I'll explain."

Once both twins were crowded around Yusei, he pulled out a notepad and pencil. In the time period that they were in the forest, the clouds had cleared and moonlight was bathing the teenager's face and paper in a soft silver glow.

"Well, first, you need to know the rules for, in this case, adding fractions." Yusei said, his pencil inscribing neat handwriting on the notepad. "Step number one is to find the least common denominator, or in other words, the smallest number the bottom part of the fraction in common. Our mathematical equation was 8/12 + 2/6 + 2/3, correct? So, have you any idea what the least common denominator is?"

Leo and Luna sunk into deep thought. A funny similarity between them was that their strawberry pink tongues stuck out when they did that. After a moment, two different answers echoed in the air.

"Six." Said Leo.

"No, twelve." Argued Luna.

Yusei paused, his face thoughtful. "Well, I would rather think Leo is right. But you have a good point Luna. I did it with twelve as the denominator; it's easier for me that way. But yeah Leo, six is the common denominator for the numbers twelve, six, and three. That aside, let's see step two."

"Step two," he began, "Is to write equivalent fractions using the least common denominator. An easier translation is to write equal fractions with the smallest number between the bottom numbers in the said fractions in the equation, or question."

In this case, let's use twelve as our base denominator. 8/12 would stay the same; 12 already being its denominator. 2/6 would become 4/12, as 6*2 = 12." He glanced at the confused expressions of Leo and Luna. "Oh, I forgot to mention, to make a fraction bigger, you multiply, but I'll explain that later. For now, let's stick with addition. Anyway, as I was saying, if you multiply 6 by 2, you have to multiply 2 by 2 as well. I suppose you know what 2*2 is?"

A joint answer of "4" confirmed his suspicions.

"So what would 2/3 become?" quizzed Yusei.

Another moment of deep thinking and the answer was chimed out by the two eager children. "8/12!"

"And what would our equation, or problem, be now?"

Leo knitted her eyebrows together, confused by the rush of information. Luna on the other hand, said the answer rapidly. "8/12 + 4/12 + 8/12!"

The male teenager looked satisfied. "And you have now thoroughly completed step three, which was to follow integer rules to add or subtract the numerators. Before you ask, we really don't have all the time in the world currently, and I'm sure you'll learn the integer rules in sixth or seventh grade."

Two pink maws snapped shut, closing on the question they had unanswered.

Yusei grinned. _Boy, are these two catching on fast!_ He thought. "And the answer is?" He said. "Don't leave the equation unfinished!"

"Um, well I know 8 + 4 =12, and 12 + 8 = 20, and then the fraction would be 20/12...but then what?" Leo looked rather doubtful at his answer.

"Well, how many times do 12 go into 20?" prodded Yusei.

"One, silly!" cried Leo and Luna. "We know that much!" Both looked highly insulted.

Ignoring their comment, Yusei pressed on. "What is the remainder?"

"Eight." Came the instant reply.

"And the remaining 8 will become 8/12, so then we'll have 1 8/12. 1 8/12 can then be simplified into 1 2/3. You've also completed step three and four, three being to keep the denominator the same, and four being to simplify."

"This leads to my next question." Complained Luna. "Which fork, or path, do we go down?" Each path seemed to lead into a hazy silver mist.

Yusei shrugged helplessly. "Ah," he hesitated, "That's about as far as I got. What I did was flip a coin and hope for the best. Unfortunately, that just ended up leading me in a merry circle." His face was a sheepish red.

Leo had wandered back the signpost at the beginning of the fork and was giving it another thorough inspection. "Aha!" he cried out.

Yusei and Luna walked over to where the male with the blue shirt had bravely stepped into the waist deep undergrowth surrounding the signpost and was now scrubbing furiously at the corner with the corner of his jacket. "What's the matter?" asked Yusei.

"Something..." muttered Leo, "Covered in dirt...can't see it properly...ah, wait, there we go!"

Dirt and mud crumbled away to reveal a previously hidden message carved into the wood. It read; 1 2/3 - 2 3/12. -

Leo straightened up from his bent position. "So we go down the left path." He said, brushing off his pants. And so they went, a strange threesome comprised of a male boy with his twin sister, and a male teenager with a love for big vocabulary and math.

**Chapter 2 – Subtraction**

It was eerily quiet as they trekked down the rocky path. Every so often, the silver haze would obscure their way and one of them would stumble into one of the many small ditches in the path. Slowly, the mist faded and they were able to see once more. What met their eyes was another fork in the road with another signpost. Luna groaned inwardly; what she really wanted was to go home.

Unfazed by the challenge that lay ahead of them, Yusei strode forward confidently. Adjusting his backpack, which kept sliding on his back, he read the mathematical problem out loud. "Ah, ahem, excuse me, let's see, 9/21 – 1/3 + 1/21 - 1/7. Oh boy."

Shaking his crab-like hair, he beckoned forth the twins. "C'mon. Since you haven't learned how to subtract fractions, I'll just have to teach you."

Flipping to a fresh page in his notepad, Yusei began once again to neatly scrawl the rules of subtraction on the page.

"Step one," he said, "Is to once again to find the least common denominator. I'm reassured you still remember how to do that, so I'm going to go on to step two. Step two is to write equivalent-equal, fractions using the least common denominator. Step three is to follow the integer rules, which is adding or subtracting the fraction parts and regrouping if necessary. I don't think regrouping is necessary in our case, but let's just see if I'm wrong. Step four is to add or subtract the whole numbers and step five is to simplify. Did you get all that?"

Luna nodded and Leo shook his head.

Yusei sighed. "Well, in this case, I'll repeat myself as we go along. Can you do the first step?"

"The first step," recited Leo, "Is to find the least common denominator."

Luna began where Leo left off. "In this problem, the common denominator is 21. 9/21 and 1/21 would stay like they are, 1/3 would become...7/21, yes, 7/21. And 1/7 would become 3/21."

"Step two," said Leo, "Is writing equi-equvialan-oh, I give up, equal, fractions using the least common denominator. Luna already did that though. Anyway, step four is to follow the integer rules. We subtract. Uh, 9/21 – 7/21 = 2/21. 2/21 + 1/21 = 3/21, and 3/21 – 3/21 = 0."

Yusei was busily rubbing away dirt from the signpost. A little bit of the answer showed itself. 0 -. Yusei mused with an air of triumph. "Yeah! Right we go then!"

Leo followed instantly, but Luna looked doubtful as she dragged her feet along. "Are you sure?" she asked. "You didn't uncover the whole thing..."

Yusei shrugged lightly. "Ah, no worries. If it says go right, and then right we go. Come on already!"

Luna followed obediently, but looked over her shoulder wistfully several times as they trekked down the path. Soon, they were swallowed up by the silvery mist.

It became increasingly dark as they walked down the path. Soon, the moon became completely covered by heavy gray stratus clouds. A light drizzle began showering them with the little tiny droplets of moisture. A whistling breeze whipped through the tree branches, making them rattle ominously.

_Grr..._

Leo looked at his sister nervously. "D-did you do that?" His teeth chattered with cold. The water was slowly soaking through his jacket.

Luna shook her head slowly. Something was making her sleepy. "Did you Yusei?" she muttered.

Yusei looked around cautiously, extending an arm to halt the twins' procession. "No, in fact, but I do think I know what did. Look."

Surrounding them were a pack of silvery-black pelted wolves, and each was growling, a soft, menacing sound.

The threesome were forced to back into a tight triangle formation. Luna was now wide awake and panicking. "What do we do?" she cried fearfully.

Yusei, ever so unshakeable, had taken off his backpack and was swinging it back and forth like a metronome. His voice, when he spoke, was flat and hard. "I'll tell what we're going to do." He said grimly. "We're going to get out of this mess. And since I got us into this by going down the wrong path, I'm gonna get us outta this mess. Yah!"

Lunging forward, he swung his pack at the nearest wolf. Snarling, it jumped out of his way with easy grace. Turning, he yelled at the twins, "Run!" Terror threw their instincts into overdrive and the twins rapidly bolted down the path. Yusei took one last swing at the vicious wolves and raced on after them.

Panting and wheezing, the twins staggered to a halt when they reached the signpost. Coughing, Luna reached a hand to the signpost and began to claw viciously at the dirt covering it. The gritty covering the post slowly flaked away. Bit by bit, the real answer was shown. 0- 10-

"You see?" yelled Luna. "You see! I knew we should've gone down the other path!"

Yusei snuck up behind them silently, and in the process unknowingly scared them to death.

Luna stifled a shriek; Leo spun around wide eyed and bopped Yusei on the head. His voice went shrill with fear. "Don't do that!"

Yusei shook off the whack to his head impatiently. "What was that though?" His voice was demanding, yet in such a quiet, thoughtful tone that made Leo and Luna pause and think about what they'd just seen and experienced.

"Wolves that surrounded, but didn't attack us. Or possibly refused to attack us? Is that the consequence for wandering down the wrong path? Or just a coincidence?" mused Yusei as he mulled it over his head. "Anyway, how about going down the right path now?"

As they moved down the left path, more cautiously now they knew the consequence of carelessness, yet none of them noticed the soft croon of growls and the dimly glowing eyes silently following them in the undergrowth.

**Chapter 3 – Multiplication **

The air was dense with unnatural silvery blue fog. The heavy atmosphere was oppressing, the silence uncanny. Once again, a fork in the road with a signpost. But this time, instead of the sign being rotting wood, it was made of a coppery metal. Picking a small stone in the gravely road, Leo chucked the rock at the sign. A _ping_ sound echoed a few times before being absorbed into the forest.

Undaunted by the suppressing air, Luna nonetheless carefully approached the object in question, weaving from side to side. Passing her safety inspection, the greenette knelt down to read the problem. "Ahem, 8/10 *48/50...scary."

Yusei already had his notepad and pencil out, hand flying across the paper as he wrote. Absently, he began to talk.

"First thing when multiplying fractions, is you must determine the sign. Positive and negative; you'll learn that later on the path of life. Anyway, in our case, neither fraction is negative, so I think we're good. Second vital thing is to change mixed numbers to improper fractions. An improper fraction is when the numerator is larger than the denominator. Mixed fractions are a whole number with a fraction beside it. We have no mixed numbers to contend with, so this step has nothing to do with us. Third step is to use the shortcut simplify method. Which, in other words, you have to simplify. What would 8/10 be after it is simplified?"

"Simplifying is when the numerator and denominator is divided by the same number, right?" asked Leo. His answer was a curt nod.

"Okay, then." Commented Luna. "Both 8 and 10 can be divided by 2, which makes 8 4, and 10 5. So then the fraction would be 4/5. 48/50 can also be divided by 2. 48 would become 24, 50 25. Then our fraction would be 24/25. Now what do we do?"

"Well we have to multiply." Yusei's answer was short; the sound of a pencil scratching across paper lodged itself into the girl's and boy's minds.

"4/5 *24/25?" Luna sat down on the hard ground. Her tongue peeked out as she rolled the math equation across in her brain. "4*4 = 16, keep the six, carry the one. 4*2 =8 + 1 = 9. 96 is the answer. 5*5 = 25, keep the five, carry the two. 5*2 = 10 + 2 = 12. 125 is the answer, so then our fraction would be 96/125, correct, Yusei? Am I right?"

Yusei looked absolutely amazed. As Leo watched Yusei stare at his twin, one thought crossed his mind. _The expression on his face is priceless. _

Yusei opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out, leaving his mouth like a fish gasping before its ultimate death. When he'd finally regained his ability to speak, his voice was weak with amazement. "You're in third grade, right?"

Luna nodded, gold eyes amused. "You got that right."

"Are you like, a math prodigy or something? Sheesh, half my class can hardly do that without a calculator! Ah, that's it. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can amaze me now. A third grader doing that math...what's 68*9?" The last question was thrown at Eclipse like a schoolboy throwing spit wads.

"68*9. 8*9 = 72, carry the seven, leave the two. 6*9 = 54, 54 + 7 = 61, the answer is 612...why so surprised?" The brunette seemed genuinely confused at Yusei's wide eyes and fish mouth.

Leo grinned wickedly. "Haha, you should see your face! Besides, we've multiplied the fraction, what now?"

Yusei shut his mouth. "I was going to say step- oh what was it- four, is to multiply the numerator, and step five to multiply the denominators, but you've seem to have all that under control. Can you try and guess what step six is?"

Both the twins smiled. "Simplify!" They shouted.

Yusei stuck a finger in his ear. "Do it, don't shout it." He replied with a hint of irritation. Wither that be from the shout or the harsh fact that a third grader was better at math then him was to be forever unknown to Luna and Leo.

"Easy!" crowed Luna. "96/125 cannot be simplified. 125 can only be divided evenly be the number 5, 25, etc., etc., while 96 can be divided by 2, 3, 6, 8, etc., etc.? Point is, they have no numbers in common, so therefore, cannot be simplified." Her voice was smug.

Yusei glared at her. "Who's giving the math lesson now?"

Luna ducked her head, blushing furiously. A small, repetitive tap caused her to turn, slightly annoyed. What she saw caused her to shut up.

"Ah no...not the wolves again!"

The wolves slinked out of the bushes, silver mist curling around their forelegs. The wolf Yusei had swung his pack at stepped forward, snarling menacingly, face scrunched and ears laid back. Its amber eyes burned into the twins, canine fangs bared with rage, limbs in a half crouch stance, ready to leap at any given moment.

For some reason known only to her, Luna cried out, "96/125! 96/125 is the answer; now leave us alone!"

Perhaps it was the anguish and distress in her voice that drove the wolves away. Perhaps it wasn't. But for some strange reason, each wolf stopped growling and snarling in their feral way, and with ears perked, raced away into the depth of the forest like a bizarre, furry river.

Once their muscles recovered from the jelly-like state they were in when the wolves showed up, the triad regained enough strength and sense to stop quivering. Once question was on each of their minds. '_What just happened?'_

Fortunately for Luna, neither Yusei nor her brother questioned what she had done. The girl in question arose from the kneeling position she had dropped into when confronted with a pack of furious wolves. She walked in an unsteady line over to the copper signpost, standing as innocently as a copper signpost could stand. 96/125 94/125

"Le-left we go then..." she stated in a shaky voice. Startled, she put a hand to her mouth. Swallowing, she repeated herself. "Left we go then." Luna said, her voice notably stronger.

Leo stood soundlessly, brushing off his pants. Yusei ran a hand through his messy locks. Both followed Luna wordlessly, silver mist swirling around their ankles as the proceeded down the rocky road.

**Chapter 4 – Division**

This path was considerable longer than all the other ones. Even Yusei was completely out of breath when they arrived at the long awaited obstacle. It was still made of the same coppery metal, although a slight tint of gold was hinted on the edges. A yellowed letter was taped to the side.

Tugging it off the post gently, Yusei smoothed out the crinkled, yellowed paper and began to read it. _Congratulations, you have made it to the last stage of the forest. If you are reading this now, you have successfully escaped the wrath of these forest guardians: the silver wolves. The last trial now begins. _

_Signed,_

_Anonyms. _

"Strange..." mused Yusei. "Last trial? Could that possibly refer to these absurd posts?"

"Don't know, don't care." Leo said with vehemence in his voice. "I couldn't care less what this Anonyms has to say; I just want to get out of here!"

Yusei ignored him, looking once again at the coppery post. "Division. Joy to the world, cause the hardest part of fractions is here. Well, gather around children, time for another lesson!"

Luna and Leo glared at him.

Yusei shrugged. "Sarcasm goes over your head, eh? I don't really care what floats your boat or sinks your sub, just listen up."

Out came the notepad and pencil, the usual scratching of pencil over paper issued in the silence after.

"Once again, you must first determine the sign, wither it is negative or positive. In our case...wait, what's the problem."

A bleak "88/99 / 3/5." Answered him.

"Yeah, 88/99 / 3/5, will be positive...gosh, Anonyms must really hate us! Anyway, continuing on. Step two is to change mixed numbers to improper fractions, in this circumstance, we have none. Yay for us. That aside, keep, and I mean keep the first number the same; that's the third step, and the fourth is to change or flip the second number. As in changing 3/5 to 5/3. So then the problem would be 88/99 / 5/3. Sixth phase is to change the division to multiplication, leaving our problem to be 88/99*5/3. To literally, it would be keep, flip, change, or as I say, keep, change, change. And as you know, seventh thing to do is multiply the numerators, eighth is to multiply the denominators, and last thing to do is simplify. Can you do the problem now?" Ben looked over to Luna, who had already sat down and started working on solving the equation.

"88/99*5/3. 88*5. 8*5 = 40, keep the zero, carry the four. Once again, 8*5 = 40 + 4 = 44. First number is 440. 99*3. 9*3 = 27, keep the seven, carry the two. Again, 9*3 = 27 + 2 = 29. Answer is 297. Whole thing is 440/297. 297 goes into 440 once, leaving 143. Answer will then be 1 143/297. Cannot be simplified from there on. Final answer is 1 143/297." Luna summed up the whole problem in about two minutes, leaving Yusei flabbergasted and Leo plain confused.

"You sound like a robot." They said in unison.

"Shush." Retorted a red faced Luna. "I gave you the answer, didn't I?"

"Yeah...Kudos to you. Now c'mon." Yusei looked at the sign briefly. 440/297 1 143/297

Luna wore a utterly confused expression on her face. "But the answers are both right!" she complained.

Ben nodded. "Correct my dear Watson! In a math test, you would choose the one that is most simplified, in this situation, the right path. Let's see if this will get us out of the forest." His cheerful face turned stark grim. "I sure hope it does."

**Chapter 5 – Epilogue**

The prize for the longest path in the world absolutely positively went to the one our triad traveled on currently. Describing loops, winding back and forth, and doubling back on itself, the trio lost more and more hope of getting out of the forest with each step. But mere minutes from the point they had given up on escaping Fraction Forests clutches, the dim yellow glow from a streetlamp penetrated their sight.

Hurrying their steps, they were rewarded by sight of a deserted street, streetlamps aglow and flickering. Gazing back on where they'd come out from, Yusei could have sworn that for a moment, glowing eyes stared right back at him before winking out of existence, like they'd never been there at all.

The twins cried happily, glad to see the familiar sight of a city. Turing, both gave Yusei a warm hug, a fleeting smile and thanks before running off hand-in-hand into the dark.

Yusei sighed, relieved everything had turned out okay. With one last glance at Fraction Forest, Yusei took his leave as well. He spun walked away, starry sky out and twinkling merrily. A soft whistle floated through the crisp night air as Yusei strode confidently away on the path of life, hoping with all his might never to encounter Fraction Forest ever again in the time he had to live.

**Man, that was the longest thing I've ever wrote. I know, Yusei was very OOC, but what the hey. It was a math project after all. Please R&R, it motivates me very much! **


End file.
